When people hear the name Susan B. Anthony, do they normally think of an activist, suffragist, and abolitionist, or do they think of a philanthropist and an educator?

icon
Related questions
Question

When people hear the name Susan B. Anthony, do they normally think of an activist, suffragist, and abolitionist, or do they think of a philanthropist and an educator? Well, Susan B. Anthony was all of these things to her family and our great nation. Susan Brownell Anthony is the second of six kids. Lucy Read Anthony, her mother, is a housewife. Lucy is satisfied with her role to take care of six kids. When Anthony saw what her mother had to do every day, she pitied her mother and wanted more than to be a housewife. Daniel Read Anthony, her father, was a radical Quaker. Daniel owned a small cotton mill in Adams, Massachusetts. Daniel believed that people should demonstrate their love for God by doing manual work. Daniel valued education, so he saved all the money he had for his children's education. With the salary Daniel made, he hired a private tutor for Anthony, and she was able to attend the village school. When Anthony turned seventeen, she and her older sister, Guelma, went to a Quaker boarding school in Philadelphia. All was well until The Panic of 1837. The Panic of 1837 caused many problems for the families in Philadelphia. The Anthony family was one of those families. Susan's father had to sell his cotton mill to get out of business debt. Anthony had to leave her boarding school and get a job as a teacher to help support her family. Anthony started sending half of her two-dollar salary home to help her family.   

Susan B Anthony was 26 when she took the position of head of the girls department at Canajoharie Academy in New York. Working at the academy was her first paid position, Anthony taught there for two years. Anthony earned a salary of 110 dollars a year. In 1853 Anthony wanted more women to be teachers, so she called all the women who were interested in becoming a teacher to the state teachers' convention, in Troy, New York. There was another teachers' convection in Massachusetts, the teachers were arguing for the right to have boys and girls learn together. The offensive side claimed there was no difference between the minds of men and women. Susan B Anthony wanted equal education opportunities no matter the race or gender. Anthony also wanted all schools to offer education to women and people who have been enslaved. By the 1890's Anthony was on the board of trustees for the Rochester's State Industrial School. Anthony also campaigned for coeducation and the opportunity for both boys and girls to have an education. Anthony managed to raise 50,000 dollars in pledges, she wanted the admittance of women to the University of Rochester. Anthony was rushing to meet the deadline for the 50,000 dollars. After she got the money, she put up the money for her insurance policy. Since Anthony raised the money, the university was forced to accept women in their university. 

When Susan B Anthony quit teaching, she found her family a home in Rochester, New York. While Anthony was in Rochester she met a lot of fellow leading abolitionists, including Fredrick Douglas and William Lloyd Garrison. After meeting the abolitionist she decided to look into the antislavery cause. Anthony joined The Temperance Movement, which promotes the prevention of alcohol. In 1852 Anthony created the Woman's New York State Temperance Society. THe society was successful. After she created the Society, Anthony met Amelia Jenks Bloomer and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, hearing what Bloomers and Stanton's cause was, Anthony suddenly became interested in women's suffrage. Anthony's big impact on these causes made her the main focus of the public and newspaper, but everything that Anthony has done is not approved by everyone. While Anthony was always in the paper, it was not always in a positive light.

Susan B Anthony was the person to call if you wanted to lead a rebellion. Anthony believed that women should be able to wear whatever they wanted. Believing in this so strongly, Anthony cut her hair and wore a bloomer costume for a year. After people started saying she looked ridiculous, Anthony realized that the dress distracted her and other people from the other causes she supported. In 1853 Anthony started to campaign for women property rights in New York. Anthony was one of the hardest working campaigners, she was speaking at meetings, collecting signatures for petitions and lobbying the state legislature. In 1860, the New York State Married Women's Property Bill became a law. This bill allowed married women to own land, keep their wages, and have custody of their own children. In 1869 Anthony wanted the Workingwomen's Association to look at the case of Hester Vaughn. Hester Vaughn was a poor, hardworking women, who was accused of murdering her child. Vaughn's child was not authorized by the law, meaning they did not know she existed. After ​​Vaughn's case was pardoned, Anthony used Vaughn’s case to show the different moral standards that are expected of both men and women. 

 

Expert Solution
trending now

Trending now

This is a popular solution!

steps

Step by step

Solved in 2 steps

Blurred answer